The Historic Court Memoirs of France, complete

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Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete - Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen

Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete : Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen

Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen

The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz - Complete [Historic court memoirs

MONSIEUR.............. The eldest brother of the King, Comte de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII.

MONSIEUR LE PRINCE.... The Prince de Conde, head of the House of Conde.

MONSIEUR LE DUC....... The Duc de Bourbon, the eldest son of the Prince de Condo (and the father of the Duc d'Enghien shot by Napoleon).

MONSIEUR LE GRAND..... The Grand Equerry under the ancien regime.

MONSIEUR LE PREMIER... The First Equerry under the ancien regime.

ENFANS DE FRANCE...... The royal children.

MADAME & MESDAMES..... Sisters or daughters of the King, or Princessesnear the Throne (sometimes used also for the wife of Monsieur, the eldestbrother of the King, the Princesses Adelaide, Victoire, Sophie, Louise,daughters of Louis XV., and aunts of Louis XVI.)

MADEMOISELLE.......... The daughter of Monsieur, the brother of the King.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Allowed her candles and as much firewood as she wantedBetter to die than to implicate anybodyDuc d'Orleans, when called on to give his vote for death of KingFormed rather to endure calamity with patience than to contendHow can I have any regret when I partake your misfortunesLouis Philippe, the usurper of the inheritance of her familyMy father fortunately found a library which amused himNo one is more dangerous than a man clothed with recent authorityRabble, always ready to insult genius, virtue, and misfortuneSo many crimes perpetrated under that name (liberty)Subjecting the vanquished to be tried by the conquerors

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FROM THE ENTIRE MARIE ANTOINETTE:

A man born solely to contradictAdvised the King not to separate himself from his armyAh, Madame, we have all been killed in our masters' service!Alas! her griefs double mine!Allowed her candles and as much firewood as she wantedBetter to die than to implicate anybodyBrought me her daughter Hortense de BeauharnaisCarried the idea of the prerogative of rank to a high pitchCommon and blamable practice of indulgenceCondescension which renders approbation more offensiveCustoms are nearly equal to lawsDifference between brilliant theories and the simplest practiceDignified tone which alone secures the respect due to powerDisplaying her acquirements with rather too much confidenceDuc d'Orleans, when called on to give his vote for death of KingElegant entertainments were given to Doctor FranklinEtiquette still existed at Court, dignity alone was wantingExtreme simplicity was the Queens first and only real mistakeFashion of wearing a black coat without being in mourningFavourite of a queen is not, in France, a happy oneFormed rather to endure calamity with patience than to contendGrand-Dieu, mamma! will it be yesterday over again?Happiness does not dwell in palacesHe is afraid to commandHis ruin was resolved on; they passed to the order of the dayHis seraglio in the Parc-aux-CerfsHistory of the man with the iron maskHow can I have any regret when I partake your misfortunesI hate all that savours of fanaticismI do not like these rhapsodiesI love the conveniences of life too wellIf ever I establish a republic of women....Indulge in the pleasure of vice and assume the credit of virtueKing (gave) the fatal order to the Swiss to cease firingLa Fayette to rescue the royal family and convey them to RouenLeave me in peace; be assured that I can put no heir in dangerLouis Philippe, the usurper of the inheritance of her familyMirabeau forgot that it was more easy to do harm than goodMost intriguing little Carmelite in the kingdomMy father fortunately found a library which amused himNever shall a drop of French blood be shed by my orderNo one is more dangerous than a man clothed with recent authorityNo accounting for the caprices of a womanNo ears that will discover when she (The Princess) is out of tuneNone but little minds dreaded little booksObserve the least pretension on account of the rank or fortuneOf course I shall be either hissed or applauded.On domestic management depends the preservation of their fortunePrevent disorder from organising itselfPrinces thus accustomed to be treated as divinitiesPrincess at 12 years was not mistress of the whole alphabetRabble, always ready to insult genius, virtue, and misfortuneSaw no other advantage in it than that of saving her own lifeShe often carried her economy to a degree of parsimonyShocking to find so little a man in the son of the MarechalShun all kinds of confidenceSimplicity of the Queen's toilet began to be strongly censuredSo many crimes perpetrated under that name (liberty)Spirit of party can degrade the character of a nationSubjecting the vanquished to be tried by the conquerorsTaken pains only to render himself beloved by his pupilTastes may changeThat air of truth which always carries convictionThe author (Beaumarchais) was sent to prison soon afterwardsThe Jesuits were suppressedThe three ministers, more ambitious than amorousThe charge of extravaganceThe emigrant party have their intrigues and schemesThe King delighted to manage the most disgraceful pointsThe anti-Austrian party, discontented and vindictiveThere is not one real patriot among all this infamous hordeThey say you live very poorly here, MoliereThose muskets were immediately embarked and sold to the AmericansThose who did it should not pretend to wish to remedy itTo be formally mistress, a husband had to be foundTrue nobility, gentlemen, consists in giving proofs of itVentured to give such rash advice: inoculationWas but one brilliant action that she could performWe must have obedience, and no reasoningWell, this is royally ill played!What do young women stand in need of?--Mothers!When kings become prisoners they are very near deathWhile the Queen was blamed, she was blindly imitatedWhispered in his mother's ear, "Was that right?""Would be a pity," she said, "to stop when so fairly on the road"Young Prince suffered from the ricketsYour swords have rusted in their scabbards

MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF ST. CLOUD, complete

Being Secret Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in London

BOOK 1.

PUBLISHERS' NOTE.

The present work contains particulars of the great Napoleon not to befound in any other publication, and forms an interesting addition to theinformation generally known about him.

The writer of the Letters (whose name is said to have been Stewarton, andwho had been a friend of the Empress Josephine in her happier, if lessbrilliant days) gives full accounts of the lives of nearly all Napoleon'sMinisters and Generals, in addition to those of a great number of othercharacters, and an insight into the inner life of those who formedNapoleon's Court.

All sorts and conditions of men are dealt with--adherents who have comeover from the Royalist camp, as well as those who have won their wayupwards as soldiers, as did Napoleon himself. In fact, the work aboundswith anecdotes of Napoleon, Talleyrand, Fouche, and a host of others, andastounding particulars are given of the mysterious disappearance of thosepersons who were unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of Napoleon.

SECRET COURT MEMOIRS.

THE COURT OF ST. CLOUD.INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

PARIS, November 10th, 1805.

MY LORD,--The Letters I have written to you were intended for theprivate entertainment of a liberal friend, and not for the generalperusal of a severe public. Had I imagined that their contents wouldhave penetrated beyond your closet or the circle of your intimateacquaintance, several of the narratives would have been extended, whileothers would have been compressed; the anecdotes would have been morenumerous, and my own remarks fewer; some portraits would have been leftout, others drawn, and all better finished. I should then have attemptedmore frequently to expose meanness to contempt, and treachery toabhorrence; should have lashed more severely incorrigible vice, andoftener held out to ridicule puerile vanity and outrageous ambition. Inshort, I should then have studied more to please than to instruct, byaddressing myself seldomer to the reason than to the passions.

I subscribe, nevertheless, to your observation, "that the late long warand short peace, with the enslaved state of the Press on the Continent,would occasion a chasm in the most interesting period of modern history,did not independent and judicious travellers or visitors abroad collectand forward to Great Britain (the last refuge of freedom) some materialswhich, though scanty and insufficient upon the whole, may, in part, rendthe veil of destructive politics, and enable future ages to penetrateinto mysteries which crime in power has interest to render impenetrableto the just reprobation of honour and of virtue." If, therefore, myhumble labours can preserve loyal subjects from the seduction oftraitors, or warn lawful sovereigns and civilized society of the alarmingconspiracy against them, I shall not think either my time thrown away, orfear the dangers to which publicity might expose me were I only suspectedhere of being an Anglican author. Before the Letters are sent to thepress I trust, however, to your discretion the removal of everything thatmight produce a discovery, or indicate the source from which you havederived your information.

Although it is not usual in private correspondence to quote authorities,I have sometimes done so; but satisfied, as I hope you are, with myveracity, I should have thought the frequent productions of any betterpledge than the word of a man of honour an insult to your feelings. Ihave, besides, not related a fact that is not recent and well known inour fashionable and political societies; and of ALL the portraits I havedelineated, the originals not only exist, but are yet occupied in thepresent busy scene of the Continent, and figuring either at Courts, incamps, or in Cabinets.

SECRET COURT MEMOIRS.

THE COURT OF ST. CLOUD.

LETTER I.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--I promised you not to pronounce in haste on persons and eventspassing under my eyes; thirty-one months have quickly passed away since Ibecame an attentive spectator of the extraordinary transactions, and ofthe extraordinary characters of the extraordinary Court and Cabinet ofSt. Cloud. If my talents to delineate equal my zeal to inquire and myindustry to examine; if I am as able a painter as I have been anindefatigable observer, you will be satisfied, and with your approbationat once sanction and reward my labours.

With most Princes, the supple courtier and the fawning favourite havegreater influence than the profound statesman and subtle Minister; andthe determinations of Cabinets are, therefore, frequently prepared indrawing-rooms, and discussed in the closet. The politician and thecounsellor are frequently applauded or censured for transactions whichthe intrigues of antechambers conceived, and which cupidity and favourgave power to promulgate.

It is very generally imagined, but falsely, that Napoleon Bonapartegoverns, or rather tyrannizes, by himself, according to his own capacity,caprices, or interest; that all his acts, all his changes, are the soleconsequence of his own exclusive, unprejudiced will, as well as unlimitedauthority; that both his greatness and his littleness, his successes andhis crimes, originate entirely with himself; that the fortunate hero whomarched triumphant over the Alps, and the dastardly murderer thatdisgraced human nature at Jaffa, because the same person, owed victory tohimself alone, and by himself alone commanded massacre; that the samegenius, unbiased and unsupported, crushed factions, erected a throne, andreconstructed racks; that the same mind restored and protectedChristianity, and proscribed and assassinated a D'Enghien.

All these contradictions, all these virtues and vices, may be found inthe same person; but Bonaparte, individually or isolated, has no claim tothem. Except on some sudden occasions that call for immediate decision,no Sovereign rules less by himself than Bonaparte; because no Sovereignis more surrounded by favourites and counsellors, by needy adventurersand crafty intriguers.

What Sovereign has more relatives to enrich, or services to recompense;more evils to repair, more jealousies to dread, more dangers to fear,more clamours to silence; or stands more in need of information andadvice? Let it be remembered that he, who now governs empires andnations, ten years ago commanded only a battery; and five years ago wasonly a military chieftain. The difference is as immense, indeed, betweenthe sceptre of a Monarch and the sword of a general, as between the wiselegislator who protects the lives and property of his contemporaries, andthe hireling robber who wades through rivers of blood to obtain plunderat the expense and misery of generations. The lower classes of allcountries have produced persons who have distinguished themselves aswarriors; but what subject has yet usurped a throne, and by his eminenceand achievements, without infringing on the laws and liberties of hiscountry, proved himself worthy to reign? Besides, the education whichBonaparte received was entirely military; and a man (let his innateabilities be ever so surprising or excellent) who, during the firstthirty years of his life, has made either military or political tacticsor exploits his only study, certainly cannot excel equally in the Cabinetand in the camp. It would be as foolish to believe, as absurd to expect,a perfection almost beyond the reach of any man; and of Bonaparte morethan of any one else. A man who, like him, is the continual slave of hisown passions, can neither be a good nor a just, an independent norimmaculate master.

Among the courtiers who, ever since Bonaparte was made First Consul, havemaintained a great ascendency over him, is the present Grand Marshal ofhis Court, the general of division, Duroc. With some parts, but greaterpresumption, this young man is destined by his master to occupy the mostconfidential places near his person; and to his care are entrusted themost difficult and secret missions at foreign Courts. When he is absentfrom France, the liberty of the Continent is in danger; and when in theTuileries, or at St. Cloud, Bonaparte thinks himself always safe.

Gerard Christophe Michel Duroc was born at Ponta-Mousson, in thedepartment of Meurthe, on the 25th of October, 1772, of poor but honestparents. His father kept a petty chandler's shop; but by the interestand generosity of Abbe Duroc, a distant relation, he was so well educatedthat, in March, 1792, he became a sub-lieutenant of the artillery. In1796 he served in Italy, as a captain, under General Andreossy, by whomhe was recommended to General l'Espinasse, then commander of theartillery of the army of Italy, who made him an aide-de-camp. In thatsituation Bonaparte remarked his activity, and was pleased with hismanners, and therefore attached him as an aide-de-camp to himself. Durocsoon became a favourite with his chief, and, notwithstanding theintrigues of his rivals, he has continued to be so to this day.

It has been asserted, by his enemies no doubt, that by implicit obedienceto his general's orders, by an unresisting complacency, and by executing,without hesitation, the most cruel mandates of his superior, he has fixedhimself so firmly in his good opinion that he is irremovable. It hasalso been stated that it was Duroc who commanded the drowning and buryingalive of the wounded French soldiers in Italy, in 1797; and that it washe who inspected their poisoning in Syria, in 1799, where he was woundedduring the siege of St. Jean d' Acre. He was among the few officers whomBonaparte selected for his companions when he quitted the army of Egypt,and landed with him in France in October, 1799.

Hitherto Duroc had only shown himself as a brave soldier and obedientofficer; but after the revolution which made Bonaparte a First Consul, heentered upon another career. He was then, for the first time, employedin a diplomatic mission to Berlin, where he so far insinuated himselfinto the good graces of their Prussian Majesties that the King admittedhim to the royal table, and on the parade at Potsdam presented him to hisgenerals and officers as an aide-de-camp 'du plus grand homme que jeconnais; whilst the Queen gave him a scarf knitted by her own fair hands.

The fortunate result of Duroc's intrigues in Prussia, in 1799, encouragedBonaparte to despatch him, in 1801, to Russia; where Alexander I.received him with that noble condescension so natural, to this great andgood Prince. He succeeded at St. Petersburg in arranging the politicaland commercial difficulties and disagreements between France and Russia;but his proposal for a defensive alliance was declined.

An anecdote is related of his political campaign in the North, upon thebarren banks of the Neva, which, in causing much entertainment to theinhabitants of the fertile banks of the Seine, has not a littledispleased the military diplomatist.

Among Talleyrand's female agents sent to cajole Paul I. during the latterpart of his reign, was a Madame Bonoeil, whose real name is De F-----.When this unfortunate Prince was no more, most of the French male andfemale intriguers in Russia thought it necessary to shift their quarters,and to expect, on the territory of neutral Prussia, farther instructionsfrom Paris, where and how to proceed. Madame Bonoeil had removed toKonigsberg. In the second week of May, 1801, when Duroc passed throughthat town for St. Petersburg, he visited this lady, according to theorders of Bonaparte, and obtained from her a list of the names of theprincipal persons who were inclined to be serviceable to France, andmight be trusted by him upon the present occasion. By inattention ormistake she had misspelled the name of one of the most trusty and activeadherents of Bonaparte; and Duroc, therefore, instead of addressinghimself to the Polish Count de S--------lz, went to the Polish Count deS-----tz. This latter was as much flattered as surprised, upon seeing anaide-de-camp and envoy of the First Consul of France enter hisapartments, seldom visited before but by usurers, gamesters, andcreditors; and, on hearing the object of this visit, began to thinkeither the envoy mad or himself dreaming. Understanding, however, thatmoney would be of little consideration, if the point desired by the FirstConsul could be carried, he determined to take advantage of thisfortunate hit, and invited Duroc to sup with him the same evening; whenhe promised him he should meet with persons who could do his business,provided his pecuniary resources were as ample as he had stated.

This Count de S-----tz was one of the most extravagant and profligatesubjects that Russia had acquired by the partition of Poland. Aftersquandering away his own patrimony, he had ruined his mother and twosisters, and subsisted now entirely by gambling and borrowing. Among hisassociates, in similar circumstances with himself, was a Chevalier deGausac, a French adventurer, pretending to be an emigrant from thevicinity of Toulouse. To him was communicated what had happened in themorning, and his advice was asked how to act in the evening. It was soonsettled that De Gausac should be transformed into a Russian Count deW-----, a nephew and confidential secretary of the Chancellor of the samename; and that one Caumartin, another French adventurer, who taughtfencing at St. Petersburg, should act the part of Prince de M-----, anaide-de-camp of the Emperor; and that all three together should stripDuroc, and share the spoil. At the appointed hour Bonaparte's agentarrived, and was completely the dupe of these adventurers, who plunderedhim of twelve hundred thousand livres. Though not many days passedbefore he discovered the imposition, prudence prevented him fromdenouncing the impostors; and this blunder would have remained a secretbetween himself, Bonaparte, and Talleyrand, had not the unusual expensesof Caumartin excited the suspicion of the Russian Police Minister, whosoon discovered the source from which they had flowed. De Gausac had theimprudence to return to this capital last spring, and is now shut up inthe Temple, where he probably will be forgotten.

As this loss was more ascribed to the negligence of Madame Bonoeil thanto the mismanagement of Duroc, or his want of penetration, his receptionat the Tuileries, though not so gracious as on his return from Berlin,nineteen months before, was, however, such as convinced him that if hehad not increased, he had at the same time not lessened, the confidenceof his master; and, indeed, shortly afterwards, Bonaparte created himfirst prefect of his palace, and procured him for a wife the onlydaughter of a rich Spanish banker. Rumour, however, says that Bonapartewas not quite disinterested when he commanded and concluded this match,and that the fortune of Madame Duroc has paid for the expensive supper ofher husband with Count de S-----tz at St. Petersburg.

LETTER II.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--Though the Treaty of Luneville will probably soon be buried inthe rubbish of the Treaty of Amiens, the influence of their parents inthe Cabinet of St. Cloud is as great as ever: I say their parents,because the crafty ex-Bishop, Talleyrand, foreseeing the short existenceof these bastard diplomatic acts, took care to compliment the innocentJoseph Bonaparte with a share in the parentage, although they were hisown exclusive offspring.

Joseph Bonaparte, who in 1797, from an attorney's clerk at Ajaccio, inCorsica, was at once transformed into an Ambassador to the Court of Rome,had hardly read a treaty, or seen a despatch written, before he washimself to conclude the one, and to dictate the other. Had he not beensupported by able secretaries, Government would soon have been convincedthat it is as impossible to confer talents as it is easy to give placesto men to whom Nature has refused parts, and on whom a scanty orneglected education has bestowed no improvements. Deep and reserved,like a true Italian, but vain and ambitious, like his brothers, under thecharacter of a statesman, he has only been the political puppet ofTalleyrand. If he has sometimes been applauded upon the stages where hehas been placed, he is also exposed to the hooting and hisses of thesuffering multitude; while the Minister pockets undisturbed all theentrance-money, and conceals his wickedness and art under the cloak ofJoseph; which protects him besides against the anger and fury ofNapoleon. No negotiation of any consequence is undertaken, no diplomaticarrangements are under consideration, but Joseph is always consulted,and Napoleon informed of the consultation. Hence none of Bonaparte'sMinisters have suffered less from his violence and resentment thanTalleyrand, who, in the political department, governs him who governsFrance and Italy.

As early as 1800, Talleyrand determined to throw the odium of his ownoutrages against the law of nations upon the brother of his master.Lucien Bonaparte was that year sent Ambassador to Spain, but not sharingwith the Minister the large profits of his appointment, his diplomaticcareer was but short. Joseph is as greedy and as ravenous as Lucien, butnot so frank or indiscreet. Whether he knew or not of Talleyrand'simmense gain by the pacification at Luneville in February, 1801, he didnot neglect his own individual interest. The day previous to thesignature of this treaty, he despatched a courier to the rich armycontractor, Collot, acquainting him in secret of the issue of thenegotiation, and ordering him at the same time to purchase six millionsof livres--L 250,000--in the stocks on his account. On Joseph's arrivalat Paris, Collot sent him the State bonds for the sum ordered, togetherwith a very polite letter; but though he waited on the grand pacificatorseveral times afterwards, all admittance was refused, until a douceur ofone million of livres--nearly L 42,000--of Collot's private profit openedthe door. In return, during the discussions between France and Englandin the summer of 1801, and in the spring of 1802, Collot was continuedJoseph's private agent, and shared with his patron, within twelve months,a clear gain of thirty-two millions of livres.

Some of the secret articles of the Treaty of Luneville gave Austria,during the insurrection in Switzerland, in the autumn of 1802, anopportunity and a right to make representations against the interferenceof France; a circumstance which greatly displeased Bonaparte, whoreproached Talleyrand for his want of foresight, and of having beenoutwitted by the Cabinet of Vienna. The Minister, on the very next day,laid before his master the correspondence that had passed between him andJoseph Bonaparte, during the negotiation concerning these secretarticles, which were found to have been entirely proposed and settled byJoseph; who had been induced by his secretary and factotum (a creature ofTalleyrand) to adopt sentiments for which that Minister had been paid,according to report, six hundred thousand livres--L25,000. Severalother tricks have in the same manner been played upon Joseph, who,notwithstanding, has the modesty to consider himself (much to theadvantage and satisfaction of Talleyrand) the first statesman in Europe,and the good fortune to be thought so by his brother Napoleon.

When a rupture with England was apprehended, in the spring of 1803,Talleyrand never signed a despatch that was not previously communicatedto, and approved by Joseph, before its contents were sanctioned byNapoleon. This precaution chiefly continued him in place when LordWhitworth left this capital,--a departure that incensed Napoleon to sucha degree that he entirely forgot the dignity of his rank amidst hisgenerals, a becoming deportment to the members of the diplomatic corps,and his duty to his mother and brothers, who all more or less experiencedthe effects of his violent passions. He thus accosted Talleyrand, whopurposely arrived late at his circle:

"Well! the English Ambassador is gone; and we must again go to war. Weremy generals as great fools as some of my Ministers, I should despairindeed of the issue of my contest with these insolent islanders. Manybelieve that had I been more ably supported in my Cabinet, I should nothave been under the necessity of taking the field, as a rupture mighthave been prevented."

"Such, Citizen First Consul!" answered the trembling and bowing Minister,"is not the opinion of the Counsellor of State, Citizen JosephBonaparte."

"Well, then," said Napoleon, as recollecting himself, "England wishes forwar, and she shall suffer for it. This shall be a war of extermination,depend upon it."

The name of Joseph alone moderated Napoleon's fury, and changed itsobject. It is with him what the harp of David was with Saul. Talleyrandknows it, and is no loser by that knowledge. I must, however, injustice, say that, had Bonaparte followed his Minister's advice, andsuffered himself to be entirely guided by his counsel, all hostilitieswith England at that time might have been avoided; her Government wouldhave been lulled into security by the cession of Malta, and somecommercial regulations, and her future conquest, during a time of peace,have been attempted upon plans duly organized, that might have ensuredsuccess. He never ceased to repeat, "Citizen First Consul! some fewyears longer peace with Great Britain, and the 'Te Deums' of modernBritons for the conquest and possession of Malta, will be consideredby their children as the funeral hymns of their liberty andindependence."

It was upon this memorable occasion of Lord Whitworth's departure, thatBonaparte is known to have betrayed the most outrageous acts of passion;he rudely forced his mother from his closet, and forbade his own sistersto approach his person; he confined Madame Bonaparte for several hours toher chamber; he dismissed favourite generals; treated with ignominymembers of his Council of State; and towards his physician, secretaries,and principal attendants, he committed unbecoming and disgraceful marksof personal outrage. I have heard it affirmed that, though her husband,when shutting her up in her dressing-room, put the key in his pocket,Madame Napoleon found means to resent the ungallant behaviour of herspouse, with the assistance of Madame Remusat.

LETTER III.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--No act of Bonaparte's government has occasioned so many, soopposite, and so violent debates, among the remnants of revolutionaryfactions comprising his Senate and Council of State, as the introductionand execution of the religious concordat signed with the Pope. Josephwas here again the ostensible negotiator, though he, on this as well ason former occasions, concluded nothing that had not been prepared anddigested by Talleyrand.

Bonaparte does not in general pay much attention to the opinions ofothers when they do not agree with his own views and interests, orcoincide with his plans of reform or innovation; but having in his publiccareer professed himself by turns an atheist and an infidel, theworshipper of Christ and of Mahomet, he could not decently silence thosewho, after deserting or denying the God of their forefathers and of theiryouth, continued constant and firm in their apostasy. Of those whodeliberated concerning the restoration or exclusion of Christianity, andthe acceptance or rejection of the concordat, Fouche, Francois de Nantz,Roederer, and Sieges were for the religion of Nature; Volney, Real,Chaptal, Bourrienne, and Lucien Bonaparte for atheism; and Portalis,Gregoire, Cambaceres, Lebrun, Talleyrand, Joseph and Napoleon Bonapartefor Christianity. Besides the sentiments of these confidentialcounsellors, upwards of two hundred memoirs, for or against the Christianreligion, were presented to the First Consul by uninvited and volunteercounsellors,--all differing as much from one another as the members ofhis own Privy Council.

Many persons do Madame Bonaparte, the mother, the honour of supposingthat to her assiduous representations is principally owing the recall ofthe priests, and the restoration of the altars of Christ. She certainlyis the most devout, or rather the most superstitious of her family, andof her name; but had not Talleyrand and Portalis previously convincedNapoleon of the policy of reestablishing a religion which, for fourteencenturies, had preserved the throne of the Bourbons from the machinationsof republicans and other conspirators against monarchy, it is veryprobable that her representations would have been as ineffective as herpiety or her prayers. So long ago as 1796 she implored the mercy ofNapoleon for the Roman Catholics in Italy; and entreated him to spare thePope and the papal territory, at the very time that his soldiers werelaying waste and ravaging the legacy of Bologna and of Ravenna, bothincorporated with his new-formed Cisalpine Republic; where one of hisfirst acts of sovereignty, in the name of the then sovereign people, wasthe confiscation of Church lands and the sale of the estates of theclergy.

Of the prelates who with Joseph Bonaparte signed the concordat, theCardinal Gonsalvi and the Bishop Bernier have, by their labours andintrigues, not a little contributed to the present Church establishment,in this country; and to them Napoleon is much indebted for the intrusionof the Bonaparte, dynasty, among the houses of sovereign Princes. Theformer, intended from his youth for the Church, sees neither honour inthis world, nor hopes for any blessing in the next, but exclusively fromits bosom and its doctrine. With capacity to figure as a country curate,he occupies the post of the chief Secretary of State to the Pope; andthough nearly of the same age, but of a much weaker constitution than hisSovereign, he was ambitious enough to demand Bonaparte's promise ofsucceeding to the Papal See, and weak and wicked enough to wish andexpect to survive a benefactor of a calmer mind and better health thanhimself. It was he who encouraged Bonaparte to require the presence ofPius VII. in France, and who persuaded this weak pontiff to undertake ajourney that has caused so much scandal among the truly faithful; andwhich, should ever Austria regain its former supremacy in Italy, willsend the present Pope to end his days in a convent, and make thesuccessors of St. Peter what this Apostle was himself, a Bishop of Rome,and nothing more.

Bernier was a curate in La Vendee before the Revolution, and one of thosepriests who lighted the torch of civil war in that unfortunate country,under pretence of defending the throne of his King and the altars of hisGod. He not only possessed great popularity among the lower classes,but acquired so far the confidence of the Vendean chiefs that he wasappointed one of the supreme and directing Council of the Royalists andChouans. Even so late as the summer of 1799 he continued not onlyunsuspected, but trusted by the insurgents in the Western departments.In the winter, however, of the same year he had been gained over byBonaparte's emissaries, and was seen at his levies in the Tuileries. Itis stated that General Brune made him renounce his former principles,desert his former companions, and betray to the then First Consul of theFrench Republic the secrets of the friends of lawful monarchy, of thefaithful subjects of Louis XVIII. His perfidy has been rewarded with onehundred and fifty thousand livres in ready money, with the see ofOrleans, and with a promise of a cardinal's hat. He has also, with theCardinals Gonsalvi, Caprara, Fesch, Cambaceres, and Mauri, Bonaparte'spromise, and, of course, the expectation of the Roman tiara. He was oneof the prelates who officiated at the late coronation, and is nowconfided in as a person who has too far committed himself with hislegitimate Prince, and whose past treachery, therefore, answers for hisfuture fidelity.

This religious concordat of the 10th September, 1801, as well as allother constitutional codes emating from revolutionary authorities,proscribes even in protecting. The professors and protectors of thereligion of universal peace, benevolence, and forgiveness banish in thisconcordat from France forever the Cardinals Rohan and Montmorency, andthe Bishop of Arras, whose dutiful attachment to their unfortunate Princewould, in better times and in a more just and generous nation, have beenrecompensed with distinctions, and honoured even by magnanimous foes.

When Madame Napoleon was informed by her husband of the necessity ofchoosing her almoner and chaplain, and of attending regularly the Mass,she first fell a-laughing, taking it merely for a joke; the serious andsevere looks, and the harsh and threatening expressions of the FirstConsul soon, however, convinced her how much she was mistaken. To evinceher repentance, she on the very next day attended her mother-in-law tochurch, who was highly edified by the sudden and religious turn of herdaughter, and did not fail to ascribe to the efficacious interference ofone of her favourite saints this conversion of a profane sinner. ButNapoleon was not the dupe of this church-going mummery of his wife, whomhe ordered his spies to watch; these were unfortunate enough to discoverthat she went to the Mass more to fill her appointments with her loversthan to pray to her Saviour; and that even by the side of her mother sheread billets-doux and love-letters when that pious lady supposed that sheread her prayers, because her eyes were fixed upon her breviary. Withoutrelating to any one this discovery of his Josephine's frailties,Napoleon, after a violent connubial fracas and reprimand, and after asolitary confinement of her for six days, gave immediate orders to havethe chapels of the Tuileries and of St. Cloud repaired; and until thesewere ready, Cardinal Cambaceres and Bernier, by turns, said the Mass, inher private apartments; where none but selected favourites or favouredcourtiers were admitted. Madame Napoleon now never neglects the Mass,but if not accompanied by her husband is escorted by a guard of honour,among whom she knows that he has several agents watching her motions andher very looks.

In the month of June, 1803; I dined with Viscomte de Segur, and Josephand Lucien Bonaparte were among the guests. The latter jocosely remarkedwith what facility the French Christians had suffered themselves to behunted in and out of their temples, according to the fanaticism or policyof their rulers; which he adduced as a proof of the great progress ofphilosophy and toleration in France. A young officer of the party,Jacquemont, a relation of the former husband of the present MadameLucien, observed that he thought it rather an evidence of theindifference of the French people to all religion; the consequence of thegreat havoc the tenets of infidelity and of atheism had made among theflocks of the faithful. This was again denied by Bonaparte's aide-de-camp, Savary, who observed that, had this been the case, the First Consul(who certainly was as well acquainted with the religious spirit ofFrenchmen as anybody else) would not have taken the trouble to conclude areligious concordat, nor have been at the expense of providing for theclergy. To this assertion Joseph nodded an assent.

When the dinner was over, De Segur took me to a window, expressing hisuneasiness at what he called the imprudence of Jacquemont, who, heapprehended, from Joseph's silence and manner, would not escapepunishment for having indirectly blamed both the restorer of religion andhis plenipotentiary. These apprehensions were justified. On the nextday Jacquemont received orders to join the colonial depot at Havre; butrefusing to obey, by giving in his resignation as a captain, he wasarrested, shut up in the Temple, and afterwards transported to Cayenne orMadagascar. His relatives and friends are still ignorant whether he isdead or alive, and what is or has been his place of exile. To a petitionpresented by Jacquemont's sister, Madame de Veaux, Joseph answered that"he never interfered with the acts of the haute police of his brotherNapoleon's Government, being well convinced both of its justice andmoderation."

LETTER IV.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--That Bonaparte had, as far back as February, 1803 (when theKing of Prussia proposed to Louis XVIII. the formal renunciation of hishereditary rights in favour of the First Consul), determined to assumethe rank and title, with the power of a Sovereign, nobody can doubt.Had it not been for the war with England, he would, in the spring of thatyear, or twelve months earlier, have proclaimed himself Emperor of theFrench, and probably would have been acknowledged as such by all otherPrinces. To a man so vain and so impatient, so accustomed to command andto intimidate, this suspension of his favourite plan was a considerabledisappointment, and not a little increased his bitter and irreconcilablehatred of Great Britain.

Here, as well as in foreign countries, the multitude pay homage only toNapoleon's uninterrupted prosperity; without penetrating or consideringwhether it be the consequence of chance or of well-digested plans;whether he owes his successes to his own merit or to a blind fortune.He asserted in his speech to the constitutional authorities, immediatelyafter hostilities had commenced with England, that the war would be ofshort duration, and he firmly believed what he said. Had he by hisgunboats, or by his intrigues or threats, been enabled to extort a secondedition of the Peace of Amiens, after a warfare of some few months, allmouths would have been ready to exclaim, "Oh, the illustrious warrior!Oh, the profound politician!" Now, after three ineffectual campaigns onthe coast, when the extravagance and ambition of our Government haveextended the contagion of war over the Continent; when both our directoffers of peace, and the negotiations and mediations of our allies, havebeen declined by, or proved unavailing with, the Cabinet of St. James,the inconsistency, the ignorance, and the littleness of the fortunategreat man seem to be not more remembered than the outrages andencroachments that have provoked Austria and Russia to take the field.Should he continue victorious, and be in a position to dictate anotherPeace of Luneville, which probably would be followed by another pacificoverture to or from England, mankind will again be ready to call out,"Oh, the illustrious warrior! Oh, the profound politician! He foresaw,in his wisdom, that a Continental war was necessary to terrify or tosubdue his maritime foe; that a peace with England could be obtained onlyin Germany; and that this war must be excited by extending the power ofFrance on the other side of the Alps. Hence his coronation as a King ofItaly; hence his incorporation of Parma and Genoa with France; and hencehis donation of Piombino and Lucca to his brother-in-law, Bacchiochi!"Nowhere in history have I read of men of sense being so easily led astrayas in our times, by confounding fortuitous events with consequencesresulting from preconcerted plans and well-organized designs.

Only rogues can disseminate and fools believe that the disgrace ofMoreau, and the execution of the Duc d'Enghien, of Pichegru, and Georges,were necessary as footsteps to Bonaparte's Imperial throne; and thatwithout the treachery of Mehee de la Touche, and the conspiracy hepretended to have discovered, France would still have been ruled by aFirst Consul. It is indeed true, that this plot is to be counted (as theimbecility of Melas, which lost the battle of Marengo) among thoseaccidents presenting themselves apropos to serve the favourite of fortunein his ambitious views; but without it, he would equally have been hailedan Emperor of the French in May, 1804. When he came from the coast, inthe preceding winter, and was convinced of the impossibility of makingany impression on the British Islands with his flotilla, he convoked hisconfidential Senators, who then, with Talleyrand, settled the SenatusConsultum which appeared five months afterwards. Mehee's correspondencewith Mr. Drake was then known to him; but he and the Minister of Policewere both unacquainted with the residence and arrival of Pichegru andGeorges in France, and of their connection with Moreau; the particularsof which were first disclosed to them in the February following, whenBonaparte had been absent from his army of England six weeks. Theassumption of the Imperial dignity procured him another decentopportunity of offering his olive-branch to those who had caused hislaurels to wither, and by whom, notwithstanding his abuse, calumnies, andmenaces, he would have been more proud to be saluted Emperor than by allthe nations upon the Continent. His vanity, interest, and policy, allrequired this last degree of supremacy and elevation at that period.

Bonaparte had so well penetrated the weak side of Moreau's characterthat, although he could not avoid doing justice to this general'smilitary talents and exploits, he neither esteemed him as a citizen nordreaded him as a rival. Moreau possessed great popularity; but so didDumourier and Pichegru before him: and yet neither of them had foundadherents enough to shake those republican governments with which theyavowed themselves openly discontented, and against which they secretlyplotted. I heard Talleyrand say, at Madame de Montlausier's, in thepresence of fifty persons, "Napoleon Bonaparte had never anything toapprehend from General Moreau, and from his popularity, even at the headof an army. Dumourier, too, was at the head of an army when he revoltedagainst the National Convention; but had he not saved himself by flighthis own troops would have delivered him up to be punished as a traitor.Moreau, and his popularity, could only be dangerous to the Bonapartedynasty were he to survive Napoleon, had not this Emperor wisely avertedthis danger." From this official declaration of Napoleon's confidentialMinister, in a society of known anti-imperialists, I draw the conclusionthat Moreau will never more, during the present reign, return to France.How very feeble, and how badly advised must this general have been, when,after his condemnation to two years' imprisonment, he accepted aperpetual exile, and renounced all hopes of ever again entering his owncountry. In the Temple, or in any other prison, if he had submitted tothe sentence pronounced against him, he would have caused Bonaparte moreuneasiness than when at liberty, and been more a point of rally to hisadherents and friends than when at his palace of Grosbois, becausecompassion and pity must have invigorated and sharpened their feelings.

If report be true, however, he did not voluntarily exchange imprisonmentfor exile; racks were shown him; and by the act of banishment was placeda poisonous draught. This report gains considerable credit when it isremembered that, immediately after his condemnation, Moreau furnished hisapartments in the Temple in a handsome manner, so as to be lodged well,if not comfortably, with his wife and child, whom, it is said, he was notpermitted to see before he had accepted Bonaparte's proposal oftransportation.

It may be objected to this supposition that the man in power, who did notcare about the barefaced murder of the Duc d'Enghien, and the secretdestruction of Pichegru, could neither much hesitate, nor be veryconscientious about adding Moreau to the number of his victims. True,but the assassin in authority is also generally a politician. Theuntimely end of the Duc d'Enghien and of Pichegru was certainly lamentedand deplored by the great majority of the French people; but though theyhad many who pitied their fate, but few had any relative interest toavenge it; whilst in the assassination of Moreau, every general, everyofficer, and every soldier of his former army, might have read thedestiny reserved for himself by that chieftain, who did not conceal hispreference of those who had fought under him in Italy and Egypt, and hismistrust and jealousy of those who had vanquished under Moreau inGermany; numbers of whom had already perished at St. Domingo, or in theother colonies, or were dispersed in separate and distant garrisons ofthe mother country. It has been calculated that of eighty-four generalswho made, under Moreau, the campaign of 1800, and who survived the Peaceof Lundville, sixteen had been killed or died at St. Domingo, four atGuadeloupe, ten in Cayenne, nine at Ile de France, and eleven at l'IleReunion and in Madagascar. The mortality among the officers and men hasbeen in proportion.

An anecdote is related of Pichegru, which does honour to the memory ofthat unfortunate general. Fouche paid him a visit in prison the daybefore his death, and offered him "Bonaparte's commission as a Field-marshal, and a diploma as a grand officer of the Legion of Honour,provided he would turn informer against Moreau, of whose treacheryagainst himself in 1797 he was reminded. On the other hand, he wasinformed that, in consequence of his former denials, if he persisted inhis refractory conduct, he should never more appear before any judge, butthat the affairs of State and the safety of the country required that heshould be privately despatched in his gaol."

"So," answered this virtuous and indignant warrior, "you will spare mylife only upon condition that I prove myself unworthy to live. As thisis the case, my choice is made without hesitation; I am prepared tobecome your victim, but I will never be numbered among your accomplices.Call in your executioners; I am ready to die as I have lived, a man ofhonour, and an irreproachable citizen."

Within twenty-four hours after this answer, Pichegru was no more.

That the Duc d'Enghien was shot on the night of the 21st of March, 1804,in the wood or in the ditch of the castle at Vincennes, is admitted evenby Government; but who really were his assassins is still unknown. Someassert that he was shot by the grenadiers of Bonaparte's Italian guard;others say, by a detachment of the Gendarmes d'Elite; and others again,that the men of both these corps refused to fire, and that General Murat,hearing the troops murmur, and fearing their mutiny, was himself theexecutioner of this young and innocent Prince of the House of Bourbon, byriding up to him and blowing out his brains with a pistol. Certain it isthat Murat was the first, and Louis Bonaparte the second in command, onthis dreadful occasion.

LETTER V.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--Thanks to Talleyrand's political emigration, our Government hasnever been in ignorance of the characters and foibles of the leadingmembers among the emigrants in England. Otto, however, finished theirpicture, but added, some new groups to those delineated by hispredecessor. It was according to his plan that the expedition of Meheede la Touche was undertaken, and it was in following his instructionsthat the campaign of this traitor succeeded so well in Great Britain.

Under the Ministry of Vergennes, of Montmorin, and of Delessart, Meheehad been employed as a spy in Russia, Sweden, and Poland, and acquittedhimself perfectly to the satisfaction of his masters. By some accidentor other, Delessart discovered, however, in December, 1791, that he had,while pocketing the money of the Cabinet of Versailles, sold its secretsto the Cabinet of St. Petersburg. He, of course, was no longer trustedas a spy, and therefore turned a Jacobin, and announced himself toBrissot as a persecuted patriot. All the calumnies against this Ministerin Brissot's daily paper, Le Patriote Francois, during January, February,and March, 1792, were the productions of Mehee's malicious heart and ablepen. Even after they had sent Delessart a State prisoner to Orleans, hisinveteracy continued, and in September the same year he went toVersailles to enjoy the sight of the murder of his former master. Somego so far as to say that the assassins were headed by this monster, whoaggravated cruelty by insult, and informed the dying Minister of thehands that stabbed him, and to whom he was indebted for a prematuredeath.

To these and other infamous and barbarous deeds, Talleyrand was not astranger when he made Mehee his secret agent, and entrusted him with themission to England. He took, therefore, such steps that neither hisconfidence could be betrayed, nor his money squandered. Mehee hadinstructions how to proceed in Great Britain, but he was ignorant of theobject Government had in view by his mission; and though large sums werepromised if successful, and if he gave satisfaction by his zeal anddiscretion, the money advanced him was a mere trifle, and barelysufficient to keep him from want. He was, therefore, really distressed,when he fixed upon some necessitous and greedy emigrants for hisinstruments to play on the credulity of the English Ministers in some oftheir unguarded moments. Their generosity in forbearing to avenge uponthe deluded French exiles the slur attempted to be thrown upon theirofficial capacity, and the ridicule intended to be cast on their privatecharacters, has been much approved and admired here by all liberal-mindedpersons; but it has also much disappointed Bonaparte and Talleyrand, whoexpected to see these emigrants driven from the only asylum whichhospitality has not refused to their misfortunes and misery.

Mehee had been promised by Talleyrand double the amount of the sums whichhe could swindle from your Government; but though he did more mischief toyour country than was expected in this, and though he proved that he hadpocketed upwards of ten thousand English guineas, the wages of hisinfamy, when he hinted about the recompense he expected here, Durant,Talleyrand's chef du bureau, advised him, as a friend, not to remind theMinister of his presence in France, as Bonaparte never pardoned aSeptembrizer, and the English guineas he possessed might be claimed andseized as national property, to compensate some of the sufferers by theunprovoked war with England. In vain did he address himself to hisfellow labourer in revolutionary plots, the Counsellor of State, Real,who had been the intermedium between him and Talleyrand, when he wasfirst enlisted among the secret agents; instead of receiving money heheard threats; and, therefore, with as good grace as he could, he madethe best of his disappointment; he sported a carriage, kept a mistress,went to gambling-houses, and is now in a fair way to be reduced to thestatus quo before his brilliant exploits in Great Britain.

Real, besides the place of a Counsellor of State, occupies also theoffice of a director of the internal police. Having some difference withmy landlord, I was summoned to appear before him at the prefecture of thepolice. My friend, M. de Sab-----r, formerly a counsellor of theParliament at Rouen, happened to be with me when the summons wasdelivered, and offered to accompany me, being acquainted with Real.Though thirty persons were waiting in the antechamber at our arrival, nosooner was my friend's name announced than we were admitted, and Iobtained not only more justice than I expected, or dared to claim, but aninvitation to Madame Real's tea-party the same evening. This justice andthis politeness surprised me, until my friend showed me an act of forgeryin his possession, committed by Real in 1788, when an advocate of theParliament, and for which the humanity of my friend alone prevented himfrom being struck off the rolls, and otherwise punished.

As I conceived my usual societies and coteries could not approve myattendance at the house of such a personage, I was intent upon sending anapology to Madame Real. My friend, however, assured me that I shouldmeet in her salon persons of all classes and of all ranks, and many Ilittle expected to see associating together. I went late, and found theassembly very numerous; at the upper part of the hall were seatedPrincesses Joseph and Louis Bonaparte, with Madame Fouche, MadameRoederer, the cidevant Duchesse de Fleury, and Marquise de Clermont.They were conversing with M. Mathew de Montmorency, the contractor (a ci-devant lackey) Collot, the ci-devant Duc de Fitz-James, and thelegislator Martin, a ci-devant porter: several groups in the severalapartments were composed of a similar heterogeneous mixture of ci-devantnobles and ci-devant valets, of ci-devant Princesses, Marchionesses,Countesses and Baronesses, and of ci-devant chambermaids, mistresses andpoissardes. Round a gambling-table, by the side of the ci-devant Bishopof Autun, Talleyrand, sat Madame Hounguenin, whose husband, a ci-devantshoeblack, has, by the purchase of national property, made a fortune ofnine millions of livres--L375,000. Opposite them were seated the ci-devant Prince de Chalais, and the present Prince Cambaceres with the ci-devant Comtesse de Beauvais, and Madame Fauve, the daughter of afishwoman, and the wife of a tribune, a ci-devant barber. In anotherroom, the Bavarian Minister Cetto was conferring with the spy Mehee de laTouche; but observed at a distance by Fouche's secretary, Desmarets, theson of a tailor at Fontainebleau, and for years a known spy. When I wasjust going to retire, the handsome Madame Gillot, and her sister, Madamede Soubray, joined me. You have perhaps known them in England, where,before their marriage, they resided for five years with their parents,the Marquis and Marquise de Courtin; and were often admired by theloungers in Bond Street. The one married for money, Gillot, a ci-devantdrummer in the French Guard, but who, since the Revolution, has, as ageneral; made a large fortune; and the other united herself to a ci-devant Abbe, from love; but both are now divorced from their husbands,who passed them without any notice while they were chatting with me.I was handing Madame Gillot to her carriage, when, from the staircase,Madame de Soubray called to us not to quit her, as she was pursued by aman whom she detested, and wished to avoid. We had hardly turned round,when Mehee offered her his arm, and she exclaimed with indignation, "Howdare you, infamous wretch, approach me, when I have forbidden you ever tospeak to me? Had you been reduced to become a highwayman, or ahousebreaker, I might have pitied your infamy; but a spy is a villain whoaggravates guilt by cowardice and baseness, and can inspire no noble soulwith any other sentiment but abhorrence, and the most sovereigncontempt." Without being disconcerted, Mehee silently returned to thecompany, amidst bursts of laughter from fifty servants, and as manymasters, waiting for their carriages. M. de Cetto was among the latter,but, though we all fixed our eyes steadfastly upon him, no alterationcould be seen on his diplomatic countenance: his face must surely be madeof brass or his heart of marble.

LETTER VI.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--The day on which Madame Napoleon Bonaparte was elected anEmpress of the French, by the constitutional authorities of her husband'sEmpire, was, contradictory as it may seem, one of the most uncomfortablein her life. After the show and ceremony of the audience and of thedrawing-room were over, she passed it entirely in tears, in her library,where her husband shut her up and confined her.

The discipline of the Court of St. Cloud is as singular as itscomposition is unique. It is, by the regulation of Napoleon, entirelymilitary. From the Empress to her lowest chambermaid, from the Emperor'sfirst aide-de-camp down to his youngest page, any slight offence ornegligence is punished with confinement, either public or private. Inthe former case the culprits are shut up in their own apartments, but inthe latter they are ordered into one of the small rooms, constructed inthe dark galleries at the Tuileries and St. Cloud, near the kitchens,where they are guarded day and night by sentries, who answer for theirpersons, and that nobody visits them.

When, on the 28th of March, 1804, the Senate had determined on offeringBonaparte the Imperial dignity, he immediately gave his wife full powers,with order to form her household of persons who, from birth and fromtheir principles, might be worthy, and could be trusted to encompass theImperial couple. She consulted Madame Remusat, who, in her turn,consulted her friend De Segur, who also consulted his bonne amie, Madamede Montbrune. This lady determined that if Bonaparte and his wife weredesirous to be served, or waited on, by persons above them by ancestryand honour, they should pay liberally for such sacrifices. She was nottherefore idle, but wishing to profit herself by the pride of upstartvanity, she had at first merely reconnoitred the ground, or made distantovertures to those families of the ancient French nobility who had beenruined by the Revolution, and whose minds she expected to have found on alevel with their circumstances. These, however, either suspecting herintent and her views, or preferring honest poverty to degrading anddisgraceful splendour, had started objections which she was not preparedto encounter. Thus the time passed away; and when, on the 18th of thefollowing May, the Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of theFrench, not a Chamberlain was ready to attend him, nor a Maid of Honourto wait on his wife.

On the morning of the 20th May, the day fixed for the constitutionalrepublican authorities to present their homage as subjects, Napoleonasked his Josephine who were the persons, of both sexes, she had engaged,according to his carte blanche given her, as necessary and as unavoidabledecorations of the drawing-room of an Emperor and Empress, as thrones andas canopies of State. She referred him to Madame Remusat, who, thoughbut half-dressed, was instantly ordered to appear before him. This ladyavowed that his grand master of the ceremonies, De Segur, had beenentrusted by her with the whole arrangement, but that she feared that hehad not yet been able to complete the full establishment of the ImperialCourt. The aide-de-camp Rapp was then despatched after De Segur, who, asusual, presented himself smiling and cringing.

"Give me the list," said Napoleon, "of the ladies and gentlemen you haveno doubt engaged for our household."

"May it please Your Majesty," answered De Segur, trembling with fear,"I humbly supposed that they were not requisite before the day of YourMajesty's coronation."

"You supposed!" retorted Napoleon. "How dare you suppose differentlyfrom our commands? Is the Emperor of the Great Nation not to beencompassed with a more numerous retinue, or with more lustre, than aFirst Consul? Do you not see the immense difference between theSovereign Monarch of an Empire, and the citizen chief magistrate of acommonwealth? Are there not starving nobles in my empire enough tofurnish all the Courts in Europe with attendants, courtiers, and valets?Do you not believe that with a nod, with a single nod, I might have themall prostrated before my throne? What can, then, have occasioned thisimpertinent delay?"

"Sire!" answered De Segur, "it is not the want of numbers, but thedifficulty of the choice among them. I will never recommend a singleindividual upon whom I cannot depend; or who, on some future day, mayexpose me to the greatest of all evils, the displeasure of my Prince."

"But," continued Napoleon, "what is to be done to-day that I may augmentthe number of my suite, and by it impose upon the gaping multitude andthe attending deputations?"--"Command," said De Segur, "all the officersof Your Majesty's staff, and of the staff of the Governor of Paris,General Murat, to surround Your Majesty's sacred person, and order themto accoutre themselves in the most shining and splendid manner possible.The presence of so many military men will also, in a political point ofview, be useful. It will lessen the pretensions of the constitutedauthorities, by telling them indirectly, 'It is not to your SenatusConsultum, to your decrees, or to your votes, that I am indebted for mypresent Sovereignty; I owe it exclusively to my own merit and valour, andto the valour of my brave officers and men, to whose arms I trust morethan to your counsels.'"

This advice obtained Napoleon's entire approbation, and was followed. DeSegur was permitted to retire, but when Madame Remusat made a curtseyalso to leave the room, she was stopped with his terrible 'aux arrets'and left under the care and responsibility of his aide-de-camp, Lebrun,who saw her safe into her room, at the door of which he placed twogrenadiers. Napoleon then went out, ordering his wife, at her peril, tobe in time, ready and brilliantly dressed, for the drawing-room.

Dreading the consequences of her husband's wrath, Madame Napoleon was notonly punctual, but so elegantly and tastefully decorated with jewels andornaments that even those of her enemies or rivals who refused herbeauty, honour, and virtue, allowed her taste and dignity. She thoughtthat even in the regards of Napoleon she read a tacit approbation. Whenall the troublesome bustle of the morning was gone through, and whenSenators, legislators, tribunes, and prefects had complimented her as amodel of female perfection, on a signal from her husband she accompaniedhim in silence through six different apartments before he came to herlibrary, where he surlily ordered her to enter and to remain untilfurther orders.

"What have I done, Sire! to deserve such treatment?" exclaimed Josephine,trembling.

"If," answered Napoleon, "Madame Remusat, your favourite, has made a foolof you, this is only to teach you that you shall not make a fool of me:Had not De Segur fortunately for him--had the ingenuity to extricate usfrom the dilemma into which my confidence and dependence on you hadbrought me, I should have made a fine figure indeed on the first day ofmy emperorship. Have patience, Madame; you have plenty of books todivert you, but you must remain where you are until I am inclined torelease you." So saying, Napoleon locked the door and put the key in hispocket.

It was near two o'clock in the afternoon when she was thus shut up.Remembering the recent flattery of her courtiers, and comparing it withthe unfeeling treatment of her husband, she found herself so much themore unfortunate, as the expressions of the former were regarded by heras praise due to her merit, while the unkindness of the latter wasunavailingly resented as the undeserved oppression of a capriciousdespot.

Business, or perhaps malice, made Napoleon forget to send her any dinner;and when, at eight o'clock, his brothers and sisters came, according toinvitation, to take tea, he said coldly:

"Apropos, I forgot it. My wife has not dined yet; she is busy, Isuppose, in her philosophical meditations in her study."

Madame Louis Bonaparte, her daughter, flew directly towards the study,and her mother could scarcely, for her tears, inform her that--she was aprisoner, and that her husband was her gaoler.

"Oh, Sire!" said Madame Louis, returning, "even this remarkable day is aday of mourning for my poor mother!"

Madame Napoleon was, however, not in a situation to wish to appear beforeher envious brothers and sisters-in-law. Her eyes were so swollen withcrying that she could hardly see; and her tears had stained thoseImperial robes which the unthinking and inconsiderate no doubt believed acertain preservative against sorrow and affliction. At nine o'clock,however, another aide-de-camp of her husband presented himself, and gaveher the choice either to accompany him back to the study or to join thefamily party of the Bonapartes.

In deploring her mother's situation, Madame Louis Bonaparte informed herformer governess, Madame Cam---n, of these particulars, which I heard herrelate at Madame de M----r's, almost verbatim as I report them to you.Such, and other scenes, nearly of the same description, are neither rarenor singular, in the most singular Court that ever existed in civilizedEurope.

LETTER VII.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--Though Government suffer a religious, or, rather, anti-religious liberty of the Press, the authors who libel or ridicule theChristian, particularly the Roman Catholic, religion, are excluded fromall prospect of advancement, or if in place, are not trusted or liked.Cardinal Caprara, the nuncio of the Pope, proposed last year, in a longmemorial, the same severe restrictions on the discussions or publicationsin religious matters as were already ordered in those concerningpolitics. But both Bonaparte and his Minister in the affairs of theChurch, Portalis, refused the introduction of what they called a tyrannyon the conscience. Caprara then addressed himself to the ex-BishopTalleyrand, who, on this occasion, was more explicit than he generallyis.

"Bonaparte," said he, "rules not only over a fickle, but a gossiping(bavard) people, whom he has prudently forbidden all conversation andwriting concerning government of the State. They would soon (accustomedas they are, since the Revolution, to verbal and written debates) betired of talking about fine weather or about the opera. To occupy themand their attention, some ample subject of diversion was necessary, andreligion was surrendered to them at discretion; because, enlightened asthe world now is, even athiests or Christian fanatics can do but littleharm to society. They may spend rivers of ink, but they will be unableto shed a drop of blood."

"True," answered the Cardinal, "but only to a certain degree. Thelicentiousness of the Press, with regard to religious matters, does itnot also furnish infidelity with new arms to injure the faith? And havenot the horrors from which France has just escaped proved the danger andevil consequences of irreligion, and the necessity of encouraging andprotecting Christianity? By the recall of the clergy, and by thereligious concordat, Bonaparte has shown himself convinced of thistruth."

Some time afterwards, when Talleyrand and Bonaparte must have agreedabout some new measure to indirectly chastise impious writers, theSenators Garat, Jaucourt, Roederer, and Demeunier, four of the members ofthe senatorial commission of the liberty of the Press, were sent for, andremained closeted with Napoleon, his Minister Portalis, and CardinalCaprara for two hours. What was determined on this occasion has nottranspired, as even the Cardinal, who is not the most discreet personwhen provoked, and his religious zeal gets the better of his politicalprudence, has remained silent, though seemingly contented.

Two rather insignificant authors, of the name of Varennes and Beaujou,who published some scandalous libels on Christianity, have since beentaken up, and after some months' imprisonment in the Temple beencondemned to transportation to Cayenne for life,--not as infidels oratheists, but as conspirators against the State, in consequence of someunguarded expressions which prejudice or ill-will alone would judgeconnected with politics. Nothing is now permitted to be printed againstreligion but with the author's name; but on affixing his name, he mayabuse the worship and Gospel as much as he pleases. Since the example ofseverity alluded to above, however, this practice is on the decline.Even Pigault-Lebrun, a popular but immoral novel writer, narrowly escapedlately a trip to Cayenne for one of his blasphemous publications, andowes to the protection of Madame Murat exclusively that he was not sentto keep Varennes and Beaujou company. Some years ago, when Madame Muratwas neither so great nor so rich as at present, he presented her with acopy of his works, and she had been unfashionable enough not only toremember the compliment, but wished to return it by nominating him herprivate secretary; which, however, the veto of Napoleon prevented.

Of Napoleon Bonaparte's religious sentiments, opinions are not divided inFrance. The influence over him of the petty, superstitious CardinalCaprara is, therefore, inexplicable. This prelate has forced from himassent to transactions which had been refused both to his mother and hisbrother Joseph, who now often employ the Cardinal with success, wherethey either dare not or will not show themselves. It is true HisEminence is not easily rebuked, but returns to the charge unabashed bynew repulses; and be obtains by teasing more than by persuasion; but aman by whom Bonaparte suffers, himself to be teased with impunity is noinsignificant favourite, particularly when, like this Cardinal, he unitescunning with devotion, craft with superstition; and is as accessible tocorruption as tormented by ambition.

As most ecclesiastical promotions passed through his pure anddisinterested hands, Madame Napoleon, Talleyrand, and Portalis, who alsowanted some douceurs for their extraordinary expenses, united togetherlast spring to remove him from France. Napoleon was cajoled to nominatehim a grand almoner of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Cardinal set out forMilan. He was, however, artful enough to convince his Sovereign of thepropriety of having his grand almoner by his side; and he is, therefore,obliged to this intrigue of his enemies that he now disposes of thebenefices in the Kingdom of Italy, as well as those of the French Empire.

During the Pope's residence in this capital, His Holiness often made useof Cardinal Caprara in his secret negotiations with Bonaparte; andwhatever advantages were obtained by the Roman Pontiff for the GallicanChurch His Eminence almost extorted; for he never desisted, where hisinterest or pride were concerned, till he had succeeded. It is said thatone day last January, after having been for hours exceedingly teasing andtroublesome, Bonaparte lost his patience, and was going to treat HisEminence as he frequently does his relatives, his Ministers, andcounsellors,--that is to say, to kick him from his presence; but suddenlyrecollecting himself, he said: "Cardinal, remain here in my closet untilmy return, when I shall have more time to listen to what you have torelate." It was at ten o'clock in the morning, and a day of greatmilitary audience and grand review. In going out he put the key in hispocket, and told the guards in his antechamber to pay no attention ifthey should hear any noise in his closet.

It was dark before the review was over, and Bonaparte had a large partyto dinner. When his guests retired, he went into his wife's drawing-room, where one of the Pope's chamberlains waited on him with theinformation that His Holiness was much alarmed about the safety ofCardinal Caprara, of whom no account could be obtained, even with theassistance of the police, to whom application had been made, since HisEminence had so suddenly disappeared.

"Oh! how absent I am," answered Napoleon, as with surprise; "I entirelyforgot that I left the Cardinal in my closet this morning. I will gomyself and make an apology for my blunder."

His Eminence, quite exhausted, was found fast asleep; but no sooner washe a little recovered than he interrupted Bonaparte's affected apologywith the repetition of the demand he had made in the morning; and so wellwas Napoleon pleased with him, for neglecting his personal inconvenienceonly to occupy himself with the affairs of his Sovereign, that heconsented to what was asked, and in laying his hand upon the shoulders ofthe prelate, said:

"Faithful Minister! were every Prince as well served as your Sovereignis by you, many evils might be prevented, and much good effected."

The same evening Duroc brought him, as a present, a snuffbox withBonaparte's portrait, set round with diamonds, worth one thousand louisd'or. The adventures of this day certainly did not lessen His Eminencein the favour of Napoleon or of Pius VII.

Last November, some not entirely unknown persons intended to amusethemselves at the Cardinal's expense. At seven o'clock one evening, ayoung Abbe presented himself at the Cardinal's house, Hotel de Montmorin,Rue Plumet, as by appointment of His Eminence, and was, by his secretary,ushered into the study and asked to wait there. Hardly half an hourafterwards, two persons, pretending to be agents of the police, arrivedjust as the Cardinal's carriage had stopped. They informed him that thewoman introduced into his house in the dress of an Abby was connectedwith a gang of thieves and housebreakers, and demanded his permission toarrest her. He protested that, except the wife of his porter, no womanin any dress whatever could be in his house, and that, to convincethemselves, they were very welcome to accompany his valet-de-chambre intoevery room they wished to see. To the great surprise of his servant, avery pretty girl was found in the bed of His Eminence's bed-chamber,which joined his study, who, though the pretended police agents insistedon her getting up, refused, under pretence that she was there waiting forher 'bon ami', the Cardinal.

His Eminence was no sooner told of this than he shut the gate of hishouse, after sending his secretary to the commissary of police of thesection. In the meantime, both the police agents and the girl entreatedhim to let them out, as the whole was merely a badinage; but he remainedinflexible, and they were all three carried by the real police commissaryto prison.

Upon a complaint made by His Eminence to Bonaparte, the Police Minister,Fouche, received orders to have those who had dared thus to violate thesacred character of the representative of the Holy Pontiff immediately,and without further ceremony, transported to Cayenne. The Cardinaldemanded, and obtained, a process verbal of what had occurred, and of thesentence on the culprits, to be laid before his Sovereign. As Eugene deBeauharnais interested himself so much for the individuals involved inthis affair as both to implore Bonaparte's pardon and the Cardinal'sinterference for them, many were inclined to believe that he was in thesecret, if not the contriver of this unfortunate joke. This suppositiongained credit when, after all his endeavours to save them proved vain, hesent them seventy-two livres L 3,000--to Rochefort, that they might, ontheir arrival at Cayenne, be able to buy a plantation. He procured themalso letters to the Governor, Victor Hughes, recommending that theyshould be treated differently from other transported persons.

LETTER VIII.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--I was particularly attentive in observing the countenances anddemeanour of the company at the last levee which Madame NapoleonBonaparte held, previous to her departure with her husband to meet thePope at Fontainebleau. I had heard from good authority that "to thosewhose propensities were known, Duroc's information that the Empress wasvisible was accompanied with a kind of admonitory or courtly hint, thatthe strictest decency in dress and manners, and a conversation chaste,and rather of an unusually modest turn, would be highly agreeable totheir Sovereigns, in consideration of the solemn occasion of a SovereignPontiff's arrival in France,--an occurrence that had not happened forcenturies, and probably would not happen for centuries to come." I wentearly, and was well rewarded for my punctuality.

There came the Senator Fouche, handing his amiable and chaste spouse,walking with as much gravity as formerly, when a friar, he marched in aprocession. Then presented themselves the Senators Sieyes and Roederer,with an air as composed as if the former had still been an Abbe and theconfessor of the latter. Next came Madame Murat, whom three hours beforeI had seen in the Bois de Boulogne in all the disgusting display offashionable nakedness, now clothed and covered to her chin. She wasfollowed by the pious Madame Le Clerc, now Princesse Borghese, who wassighing deeply and loudly. After her came limping the godly Talleyrand,dragging his pure moiety by his side, both with downcast and edifyinglooks. The Christian patriots, Gravina and Lima, Dreyer and Beust,Dalberg and Cetto, Malsburgh and Pappenheim, with the CatholicSchimmelpenninck and Mohammed Said Halel Effendi,--all presentedthemselves as penitent sinners imploring absolutions, after undergoingmortifications.

But it would become tedious and merely a repetition, were I to depictseparately the figures and characters of all the personages at thispolitico-comical masquerade. Their conversation was, however, moreuniform, more contemptible, and more laughable, than their accoutrementsand grimaces were ridiculous. To judge from what they said, theybelonged no longer to this world; all their thoughts were in heaven, andthey considered themselves either on the borders of eternity or on theeve of the day of the Last Judgment. The truly devout Madame Napoleonspoke with rapture of martyrs and miracles, of the Mass and of thevespers, of Agnuses and relics of Christ her Saviour, and of Pius VII.,His vicar. Had not her enthusiasm been interrupted by the enthusiasticcommentaries of her mother-in-law, I saw every mouth open ready to cryout, as soon as she had finished, "Amen! Amen! Amen!"

Napoleon had placed himself between the old Cardinal de Bellois and thenot young Cardinal Bernier, so as to prevent the approach of any profanesinner or unrepentant infidel. Round him and their clerical chiefs, allthe curates and grand vicars, almoners and chaplains of the Court, andthe capitals of the Princess, Princesses, and grand officers of State,had formed a kind of cordon. "Had," said the young General Kellerman tome, "Bonaparte always been encompassed by troops of this description, hemight now have sung hymns as a saint in heaven, but he would never havereigned as an Emperor upon earth." This indiscreet remark was heard byLouis Bonaparte, and on the next morning Kellerman received orders tojoin the army in Hanover, where he was put under the command of a generalyounger than himself. He would have been still more severely punished,had not his father, the Senator (General Kellerman), been in so greatfavour at the Court of St. Cloud, and so much protected by Duroc, who hadmade, in 1792, his first campaign under this officer, then commander-in-chief of the army of the Ardennes.

When this devout assembly separated, which was by courtesy an hourearlier than usual, I expected every moment to hear a chorus of horse-laughs, because I clearly perceived that all of them were tired of theirassumed parts, and, with me, inclined to be gay at the expense of theirneighbours. But they all remembered also that they were watched byspies, and that an imprudent look or an indiscreet word, gaiety insteadof gravity, noise when silence was commanded, might be followed by anairing in the wilderness of Cayenne. They, therefore, all called out,"Coachman, to our hotel!" as if to say, "We will to-day, in compliment tothe new-born Christian zeal of our Sovereigns, finish our evening aspiously as we have begun it." But no sooner were they out of sight ofthe palace than they hurried to the scenes of dissipation, allendeavouring, in the debauchery and excesses so natural to them, toforget their unnatural affectation and hypocrisy.

Well you know the standard of the faith even of the members of theBonaparte family. Two days before this Christian circle at MadameNapoleon's, Madame de Chateaureine, with three other ladies, visited thePrincesse Borghese. Not seeing a favourite parrot they had oftenpreviously admired, they inquired what was become of it.

"Oh, the poor creature!" answered the Princess; "I have disposed of it,as well as of two of my monkeys. The Emperor has obliged me to engage analmoner and two chaplains, and it would be too extravagant in me to keepsix useless animals in my hotel. I must now submit to hearing thedisgusting howlings of my almoner instead of the entertaining chat of myparrot, and to see the awkward bows and kneelings of my chaplains insteadof the amusing capering of my monkeys. Add to this, that I am forced to-transform into a chapel my elegant and tasty boudoir, on the ground-floor, where I have passed so many delicious tete-a-tetes. Alas! what achange! what a shocking fashion, that we are now all again to beChristians!"

LETTER IX.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--Notwithstanding what was inserted in our public prints to thecontrary, the reception Bonaparte experienced from his army of England inJune last year, the first time he presented himself to them as anEmperor, was far from such as flattered either his vanity or views. Forthe first days, some few solitary voices alone accompanied the "Vivel'Empereur!" of his generals, and of his aides-de-camp. Thisindifference, or, as he called it, mutinous spirit, was so much the moreprovoking as it was unexpected. He did not, as usual, ascribe it to theemissaries or gold of England, but to the secret adherents of Pichegruand Moreau amongst the brigades or divisions that had served under theseunfortunate generals. He ordered, in consequence, his Minister Berthierto make out a list of all these corps. Having obtained this, heseparated them by ordering some to Italy, others to Holland, and the restto the frontiers of Spain and Germany. This act of revenge or jealousywas regarded, both by the officers and men, as a disgrace and as a doubtthrown out against their fidelity, and the murmur was loud and general.In consequence of this, some men were shot, and many more arrested.

Observing, however, that severity had not the desired effect, Bonapartesuddenly changed his conduct, released the imprisoned, and rewarded withthe crosses of his Legion of Honour every member of the so latelysuspected troops who had ever performed any brilliant or valorousexploits under the proscribed generals. He even incorporated among hisown bodyguards and guides men who had served in the same capacity underthese rival commanders, and numbers of their children were received inthe Prytanees and military free schools. The enthusiastic exclamationthat soon greeted his ears convinced him that he had struck upon theright string of his soldiers' hearts. Men who, some few days before,wanted only the signal of a leader to cut an Emperor they hated topieces, would now have contended who should be foremost to shed theirlast drop of blood for a chief they adored.

This affected liberality towards the troops who had served under hisrivals roused some slight discontent among those to whom he was chieflyindebted for his own laurels. But if he knew the danger of reducing todespair slighted men with arms in their hands, he also was well aware ofthe equal danger of enduring licentiousness or audacity among troops whohad, on all occasions, experienced his preference and partiality; and hegave a sanguinary proof of his opinion on this subject at the grandparade of the 12th of July, 1804, preparatory to the grand fete of the14th.

A grenadier of the 21st Regiment (which was known in Italy under the nameof the Terrible), in presetting arms to him, said: "Sire! I have servedunder you four campaigns, fought under you in ten battles or engagements;have received in your service seven wounds, and am not a member of yourLegion of Honour; whilst many who served under Moreau, and are not ableto show a scratch from an enemy, have that distinction."

Bonaparte instantly ordered this man to be shot by his own comrades inthe front of the regiment. The six grenadiers selected to fire, seemingto hesitate, he commanded the whole corps to lay down their arms, andafter being disbanded, to be sent to the different colonial depots. Tohumiliate them still more, the mutinous grenadier was shot by thegendarmes. When the review was over, "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded fromall parts, and his popularity among the troops has since rather increasedthan diminished. Nobody can deny that Bonaparte possesses a greatpresence of mind, an undaunted firmness, and a perfect knowledge of thecharacter of the people over whom he reigns. Could but justice andhumanity be added to his other qualities, but, unfortunately for mynation, I fear that the answer of General Mortier to a remark of a friendof mine on this subject is not problematical: "Had," said this Imperialfavourite, "Napoleon Bonaparte been just and humane, he would neitherhave vanquished nor reigned."

All these scenes occurred before Bonaparte, seated on a throne, receivedthe homage, as a Sovereign, of one hundred and fifty thousand warriors,who now bowed as subjects, after having for years fought for liberty andequality, and sworn hatred to all monarchical institutions; and whohitherto had saluted and obeyed him only as the first among equals. Whatan inconsistency! The splendour and show that accompanied himeverywhere, the pageantry and courtly pomp that surrounded him, and thedecorations of the stars and ribands of the Legion of Honour, which hedistributed with bombastic speeches among troops--to whom those politicalimpositions and social cajoleries were novelties--made such an impressionupon them, that had a bridge been then fixed between Calais and Dover,brave as your countrymen are, I should have trembled for the liberty andindependence of your country. The heads and imagination of the soldiers,I know from the best authority, were then so exalted that, though theymight have been cut to pieces, they could never have been defeated orrouted. I pity our children when I reflect that their tranquillity andhappiness will, perhaps, depend upon such a corrupt and unprincipledpeople of soldiers,--easy tools in the hands of every impostor ormountebank.

The lively satisfaction which Bonaparte must have felt at the pinnacle ofgrandeur where fortune had placed him was not, however, entirely unmixedwith uneasiness and vexation. Except at Berlin, in all the other greatCourts the Emperor of the French was still Monsieur Bonaparte; and yourcountry, of the subjugation of which he had spoken with such lightnessand such inconsideration, instead of dreading, despised his boasts anddefied his threats. Indeed, never before did the Cabinet of St. Jamesmore opportunely expose the reality of his impotency, the impertinence ofhis menaces, and the folly of his parade for the invasion of yourcountry, than by declaring all the ports containing his invincible armadain a state of blockade. I have heard from an officer who witnessed hisfury when in May, 1799, he was compelled to retreat from before St. Jeand'Acre, and who was by his side in the camp at Boulogne when a despatchinformed him of this circumstance, that it was nothing compared to theviolent rage into which he flew upon reading it. For an hour afterwardsnot even his brother Joseph dared approach him; and his passion got sofar the better of his policy, that what might still have long beenconcealed from the troops was known within the evening to the whole camp.He dictated to his secretary orders for his Ministers at Vienna, Berlin,Lisbon, and Madrid, and couriers were sent away with them; but half anhour afterwards other couriers were despatched after them with otherorders, which were revoked in their turn, when at last Joseph hadsucceeded in calming him a little. He passed, however, the wholefollowing night full dressed and agitated; lying down only for aninstant, but having always in his room Joseph and Duroc, and deliberatingon a thousand methods of destroying the insolent islanders; all equallyviolent, but all equally impracticable.

The next morning, when, as usual, he went to see the manoeuvres of hisflotilla, and the embarkation and landing of his troops, he looked sopale that he almost excited pity. Your cruisers, however, as if they hadbeen informed of the situation of our hero, approached unusually near, toevince, as it were, their contempt and, derision. He ordered instantlyall the batteries to fire, and went himself to that which carried itsshot farthest; but that moment six of your vessels, after taking downtheir sails, cast anchors, with the greatest sang-froid, just without thereach of our shot. In an unavailing anger he broke upon the spot sixofficers of artillery, and pushed one, Captain d' Ablincourt, down theprecipice under the battery, where he narrowly escaped breaking his neckas well as his legs; for which injury he was compensated by being made anofficer of the Legion of Honour. Bonaparte then convoked upon the spot acouncil of his generals of artillery and of the engineers, and, within anhour's time, some guns and mortars of still heavier metal and greatercalibre were carried up to replace the others; but, fortunately for thegenerals, before a trial could be made of them the tide changed, and yourcruisers sailed.

In returning to breakfast at General Soult's, he observed thecountenances of his soldiers rather inclined to laughter than to wrath;and he heard some jests, significant enough in the vocabulary ofencampments, and which informed him that contempt was not the sentimentwith which your navy had inspired his troops. The occurrences of thesetwo days hastened his departure from the coast for Aix-la-Chapelle, wherethe cringing of his courtiers consoled him, in part, for the want ofrespect or gallantry in your English tars.

LETTER X.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--According to a general belief in our diplomatic circles, it wasthe Austrian Ambassador in France, Count von Cobenzl, who principallyinfluenced the determination of Francis II. to assume the hereditarytitle of Emperor of Austria, and to acknowledge Napoleon Emperor of theFrench.

Johann Philipp, Count von Cobenzl, enjoys, not only in his own country,but through all Europe, a great reputation as a statesman, and has for anumber of years been employed by his Court in the most intricate anddelicate political transactions. In 1790 he was sent to Brabant to treatwith the Belgian insurgents; but the States of Brabant refusing toreceive him, he retired to Luxembourg, where he published a proclamation,in which Leopold II. revoked all those edicts of his predecessor, JosephII., which had been the principal cause of the troubles; andreestablished everything upon the same footing as during the reign ofMaria Theresa. In 1791 he was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St.Petersburg, where his conduct obtained the approbation of his own Princeand of the Empress of Russia.

In 1793 the Committee of Public Safety nominated the intriguer, DeSemonville, Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte. His mission was to excitethe Turks against Austria and Russia, and it became of great consequenceto the two Imperial Courts to seize this incendiary of regicides. He wastherefore stopped, on the 25th of July, in the village of Novate, nearthe lake of Chiavenne. A rumour was very prevalent at this time thatsome papers were found in De Semonville's portfolio implicating Count vonCobenzl as a correspondent with the revolutionary French generals. Thecontinued confidence of his Sovereign contradicts, however, thisinculpation, which seems to have been merely the invention of rivalry orjealousy.

In October, 1795, Count von Cobenzl signed, in the name of the Emperor, atreaty with England and Russia; and in 1797 he was one of the Imperialplenipotentiaries sent to Udine to negotiate with Bonaparte, with whom,on the 17th of October, he signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. In thesame capacity he went afterwards to Rastadt, and when this congress brokeup, he returned again as an Ambassador to St. Petersburg.

After the Peace of Lunwille, when it required to have a man of experienceand talents to oppose to our so deeply able Minister, Talleyrand, theCabinet of Vienna removed him from Russia to France, where, with allother representatives of Princes, he has experienced more of the frownsand rebukes, than of the dignity and good grace, of our presentSovereign.

Count von Cobenzl's foible is said to be a passion for women; and it isreported that our worthy Minister, Talleyrand, has been kind enough toassist him frequently in his amours. Some adventures of this sort, whichoccurred at Rastadt, afforded much amusement at the Count's expense.Talleyrand, from envy, no doubt, does not allow him the same politicalmerit as his other political contemporaries, having frequently repeatedthat "the official dinners of Count von Cobenzl were greatly preferableto his official notes."

So well pleased was Bonaparte with this Ambassador when at Aix-la-Chapelle last year, that, as a singular favour, he permitted him, withthe Marquis de Gallo (the Neapolitan Minister and another plenipotentiaryat Udine), to visit the camps of his army of England on the coast. It istrue that this condescension was, perhaps, as much a boast, or a threat,as a compliment.

The famous diplomatic note of Talleyrand, which, at Aix-la-Chapelleproscribed en masse all your diplomatic agents, was only a slight revengeof Bonaparte's for your mandate of blockade. Rumour states that thismeasure was not approved of by Talleyrand, as it would not exclude any ofyour Ambassadors from those Courts not immediately under the whip of ourNapoleon. For fear, however, of some more extravagant determination,Joseph Bonaparte dissuaded him from laying before his brother anyobjections or representations. "But what absurdities do I not sign!"exclaimed the pliant Minister.

Bonaparte, on his arrival at Aix-la-Chapelle, found there, according tocommand, most of the members of the foreign diplomatic corps in France,waiting to present their new credentials to him as Emperor. Charlemagnehad been saluted as such, in the same place, about one thousand yearsbefore,--an inducement for the modern Charlemagne to set all theseAmbassadors travelling some hundred miles, without any other object butto gratify his impertinent vanity. Every spot where Charlemagne hadwalked, sat, slept, talked, eaten or prayed, was visited by him withgreat ostentation; always dragging behind him the foreignrepresentatives, and by his side his wife. To a peasant who presentedhim a stone upon which Charlemagne was said to have once kneeled, he gavenearly half its weight in gold; on a priest who offered him a smallcrucifix, before which that Prince was reported to have prayed, hebestowed an episcopal see; to a manufacturer he ordered one thousandlouis for a portrait of Charlemagne, said to be drawn by his daughter,but which, in fact, was from the pencil of the daughter of themanufacturer; a German savant was made a member of the National Institutefor an old diploma, supposed to have been signed by Charlemagne, who manybelieved was not able to write; and a German Baron, Krigge, wasregistered in the Legion of Honour for a ring presented by this Emperorto one of his ancestors, though his nobility is well known not to be ofsixty years' standing. But woe to him who dared to suggest any doubtabout what Napoleon believed, or seemed to believe! A German professor,Richter, more a pedant than a courtier, and more sincere than wise,addressed a short memorial to Bonaparte, in which he proved, from hisintimacy with antiquity, that most of the pretended relics of Charlemagnewere impositions on the credulous; that the portrait was a drawing ofthis century, the diploma written in the last; the crucifix manufacturedwithin fifty, and the ring, perhaps, within ten years. The night afterBonaparte had perused this memorial, a police commissary, accompanied byfour gendarmes, entered the professor's bedroom, forced him to dress, andushered him into a covered cart, which carried him under escort to theleft bank of the Rhine; where he was left with orders, under pain ofdeath, never more to enter the territory of the French Empire. Thisexpeditious and summary justice silenced all other connoisseurs andantiquarians; and relics of Charlemagne have since poured in in suchnumbers from all parts of France, Italy, Germany, and even Denmark, thatwe are here in hope to see one day established a Museum Charlemagne, bythe side of the museums Napoleon and Josephine. A ballad, written inmonkish Latin, said to be sung by the daughters and maids of Charlemagneat his Court on great festivities, was addressed to Duroc, by a Danishprofessor, Cranener, who in return was presented, on the part ofBonaparte, with a diamond ring worth twelve thousand livres--L 500. Thisballad may, perhaps, be the foundation of future Bibliotheque or LyceumCharlemagne.

LETTER XI.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--On the arrival of her husband at Aix-la-Chapelle, MadameNapoleon had lost her money by gambling, without recovering her health byusing the baths and drinking the waters; she was, therefore, as poor aslow-spirited, and as ill-tempered as dissatisfied. Napoleon himself wasneither much in humour to supply her present wants, provide for herextravagances, or to forgive her ill-nature; he ascribed the inefficacyof the waters to her excesses, and reproached her for her too greatcondescension to many persons who presented themselves at her drawing-room and in her circle, but who, from their rank in life, were only fitto be seen as supplicants in her antechambers, and as associates with hervalets or chambermaids.

The fact was that Madame Napoleon knew as well as her husband that thesegentry were not in their place in the company of an Empress; but theywere her creditors, some of them even Jews; and as long as she continueddebtor to them she could not decently--or rather, she dared not preventthem from being visitors to her. By confiding her situation to her oldfriend, Talleyrand, she was, however, soon released from thosetroublesome personages. When the Minister was informed of the occasionof the attendance of these impertinent intruders, he humbly proposed toBonaparte not to pay their demands and their due, but to make themexamples of severe justice in transporting them to Cayenne, as the onlysure means to prevent, for the future, people of the same descriptionfrom being familiar or audacious.

When, thanks to Talleyrand's interference, these family arrangements weresettled, Madame Napoleon recovered her health with her good-humour; andher husband, who had begun to forget the English blockade, only to thinkof the papal accolade (dubbing), was more tender than ever. I am assuredthat, during the fortnight he continued with his wife at Aix-la-Chapelle,he only shut her up or confined her twice, kicked her three times, andabused her once a day.

It was during their residence in that capital that Comte de Segur at lastcompleted the composition of their household, and laid before them thelist of the ladies and gentlemen who had consented to put on theirlivery. This De Segur is a kind of amphibious animal, neither a royalistnor a republican, neither a democrat nor an aristocrat, but a disaffectedsubject under a King, a dangerous citizen of a Commonwealth, ridiculingboth the friend of equality and the defender of prerogatives; no exactdefinition can be given, from his past conduct and avowed professions,of his real moral and political character. One thing only is certain;--he was an ungrateful traitor to Louis XVI., and is a submissive slaveunder Napoleon the First.

Though not of an ancient family, Comte de Segur was a nobleman by birth,and ranked among the ancient French nobility because one of his ancestorshad been a Field-marshal. Being early introduced at Court, he acquired,with the common corruption, also the pleasing manners of a courtier; andby his assiduities about the Ministers, Comte de Maurepas and Comte deVergennes, he procured from the latter the place of an Ambassador to theCourt of St. Petersburg. With some reading and genius, but with moreboasting and presumption, he classed himself among French men of letters,and was therefore as such received with distinction by Catharine II., onwhom, and on whose Government, he in return published a libel. He was avalet under La Fayette, in 1789, as he has since been under everysucceeding King of faction. The partisans of the Revolution pointed himout as a fit Ambassador from Louis XVI. to the late King of Prussia; andhe went in 1791 to Berlin, in that capacity; but Frederick William II.refused him admittance to his person, and, after some ineffectualintrigues with the Illuminati and philosophers at Berlin, he returned toParis as he left it; provided, however, with materials for another libelon the Prussian Monarch, and on the House of Brandenburgh, which heprinted in 1796. Ruined by the Revolution which he had so much admired,he was imprisoned under Robespierre, and was near starving under theDirectory, having nothing but his literary productions to subsist on.In 1799, Bonaparte made him a legislator, and in 1803, a Counsellor ofState,--a place which he resigned last year for that of a grand master ofthe ceremonies at the present Imperial Court. His ancient inveteracyagainst your country has made him a favourite with Bonaparte. Theindelicate and scandalous attacks, in 1796 and 1797, against LordMalmesbury, in the then official journal, Le Redacteur, were theoffspring of his malignity and pen; and the philippics and abusive notesin our present official Moniteur, against your Government and country,are frequently his patriotic progeny, or rather, he often shares withTalleyrand and Hauterive their paternity.

The Revolution has not made Comte de Segur more happy with regard to hisfamily, than in his circumstances, which, notwithstanding his brilliantgrand-mastership, are far from being affluent. His amiable wife died ofterror, and brokenhearted from the sufferings she had experienced, andthe atrocities she had witnessed; and when he had enticed his eldest sonto accept the place of a sub-prefect under Bonaparte, his youngest son,who never approved our present regeneration, challenged his brother tofight, and, after killing him in a duel, destroyed himself. Comte deSegur is therefore, at present, neither a husband nor a father, but onlya grand master of ceremonies! What an indemnification!

Madame Napoleon and her husband are both certainly under much obligationto this nobleman for his care to procure them comparatively decentpersons to decorate their levees and drawing-rooms, who, though they haveno claim either to morality or virtue, either to honour or chastity, areundoubtedly a great acquisition at the Court of St. Cloud, because noneof them has either been accused of murder, or convicted of plunder; whichis the case with some of the Ministers, and most of the generals,Senators and counsellors. It is true that they are a mixture of beggarednobles and enriched valets, of married courtesans and divorced wives,but, for all that, they can with justice demand the places of honour ofall other Imperial courtiers of both sexes.

When Bonaparte had read over the names of these Court recruits, engagedand enlisted by De Segur, he said, "Well, this lumber must do until wecan exchange it for better furniture." At that time, young Comte d'Arberg (of a German family, on the right bank of the Rhine), but whosemother is one of Madame Bonaparte's Maids of Honour, was travelling forhim in Germany and in Prussia, where, among other negotiations, he wascharged to procure some persons of both sexes, of the most ancientnobility, to augment Napoleon's suite, and to figure in his livery. Moreindividuals presented themselves for this honour than he wanted, but theywere all without education and without address: ignorant of the world asof books; not speaking well their own language, much less understandingFrench or Italian; vain of their birth, but not ashamed of theirignorance, and as proud as poor. This project was therefore relinquishedfor the time; but a number of the children of the principal ci-devantGerman nobles, who, by the Treaty of Luneville and Ratisbon, had becomesubjects of Bonaparte, were, by the advice of Talleyrand, offered placesin French Prytanees, where the Emperor promised to take care of theirfuture advancement. Madame Bonaparte, at the same time, selected twenty-five young girls of the same families, whom she also offered to educateat her expense. Their parents understood too well the meaning of thesegenerous offers to dare decline their acceptance. These children are theplants of the Imperial nursery, intended to produce future pages,chamberlains, equerries, Maids of Honour and ladies in waiting, who forancestry may bid defiance to all their equals of every Court inChristendom. This act of benevolence, as it was called in some Germanpapers, is also an indirect chastisement of the refractory Frenchnobility, who either demanded too high prices for their degradation, orabruptly refused to disgrace the names of their forefathers.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Easy to give places to men to whom Nature has refused partsIndifference of the French people to all religionPrepared to become your victim, but not your accompliceWere my generals as great fools as some of my MinistersWhich crime in power has interest to render impenetrable

MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF ST. CLOUD

Being Secret Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in London

BOOK 2.

LETTER XII.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--Bonaparte has been as profuse in his disposal of the Imperialdiadem of Germany, as in his promises of the papal tiara of Rome. TheHouses of Austria and Brandenburgh, the Electors of Bavaria and Baden,have by turns been cajoled into a belief of his exclusive support towardsobtaining it at the first vacancy. Those, however, who have paidattention to his machinations, and studied his actions; who remember hispedantic affectation of being considered a modern, or rather a secondCharlemagne; and who have traced his steps through the labyrinth of follyand wickedness, of meanness and greatness, of art, corruption, andpolicy, which have seated him on the present throne, can entertain littledoubt but that he is seriously bent on seizing and adding the sceptre ofGermany to the crowns of France and Italy.

During his stay last autumn at Mentz, all those German Electors who hadspirit and dignity enough to refuse to attend on him there in person wereobliged to send Extraordinary Ambassadors to wait on him, and tocompliment him on their part. Though hardly one corner of the veil thatcovered the intrigues going forward there is yet lifted up, enough isalready seen to warn Europe and alarm the world. The secret treaties heconcluded there with most of the petty Princes of Germany, against theChief of the German Empire which not only entirely detached them fromtheir country and its legitimate Sovereign, but made their individualinterests hostile and totally opposite to that of the GermanCommonwealth, transforming them also from independent Princes intovassals of France, both directly increased has already gigantic power,and indirectly encouraged him to extend it beyond what his most sanguineexpectation had induced him to hope. I do not make this assertion from amere supposition in consequence of ulterior occurrences. At a supperwith Madame Talleyrand last March, I heard her husband, in a gay,unguarded, or perhaps premeditated moment, say, when mentioning hisproposed journey to Italy:

"I prepared myself to pass the Alps last October at Mentz. The firstground-stone of the throne of Italy was, strange as it may seem, laid onthe banks of the Rhine: with such an extensive foundation, it must bedifficult to shake, and impossible to overturn it."

We were, in the whole, twenty-five persons at table when he spoke thus,many of whom, he well knew, were intimately acquainted both with theAustrian and Prussian Ambassadors, who by the bye, both on the next daysent couriers to their respective Courts.

The French Revolution is neither seen in Germany in that dangerous lightwhich might naturally be expected from the sufferings in which it hasinvolved both Princes and subjects, nor are its future effects dreadedfrom its past enormities. The cause of this impolitic and anti-patrioticapathy is to be looked for in the palaces of Sovereigns, and not in thedwellings of their people. There exists hardly a single German Princewhose Ministers, courtiers and counsellors are not numbered, and havelong been notorious among the anti-social conspirators, the Illuminati:most of them are knaves of abilities, who have usurped the easy directionof ignorance, or forced themselves as guides on weakness or folly, whichbow to their charlatanism as if it was sublimity, and hail theirsophistry and imposture as inspiration.

Among Princes thus encompassed, the Elector of Bavaria must be allowedthe first place. A younger brother of a younger branch, and a colonel inthe service of Louis XVI., he neither acquired by education, norinherited from nature, any talent to reign, nor possessed any one qualitythat fitted him for a higher situation than the head of a regiment or alady's drawing-room. He made himself justly suspected of a moralcorruption, as well as of a natural incapacity, when he announced hisapprobation of the Revolution against his benefactor, the late King ofFrance, who, besides a regiment, had also given him a yearly pension ofone hundred thousand livres. Immediately after his unexpected accessionto the Electorate of Bavaria, he concluded a subsidiary treaty with yourcountry, and his troops were ordered to combat rebellion, under thestandard of Austrian loyalty. For some months it was believed that theElector wished by his conduct to obliterate the memory of the errors,vices, and principles of the Duc de Deux-Ponts (his former title). Butplacing all his confidence in a political adventurer and revolutionaryfanatic, Montgelas, without either consistency or firmness, without beingeither bent upon information or anxious about popularity, he threw thewhole burden of State on the shoulders of this dangerous man, who soonshowed the world that his master, by his first treaties, intended only topocket your money without serving your cause or interest.

This Montgelas is, on account of his cunning and long standing amongthem, worshipped by the gang of German Illuminati as an idol rather thanrevered as an apostle. He is their Baal, before whom they hope to obligeall nations upon earth to prostrate themselves as soon as infidelity hasentirely banished Christianity; for the Illuminati do not expect to reigntill the last Christian is buried under the rubbish of the last altar ofChrist. It is not the fault of Montgelas if such an event has notalready occurred in the Electorate of Bavaria.

Within six months after the Treaty of Lundville, Montgelas began in thatcountry his political and religious innovations. The nobility and theclergy were equally attacked; the privileges of the former were invaded,and the property of the latter confiscated; and had not his zeal carried